The Irish Times (July 10)
“The Brexit planning document published by the Government on Tuesday is reminiscent of the warnings about the Irish economy and housing market that proliferated in the first phase of the economic crash a decade ago. It is one of the most alarming documents ever published by an Irish government…. Written in low-key officialise, it is a sobering read.”
Tags: Alarming, Brexit, Economic crash, Government, Housing market, Ireland, Planning, UK, Warnings
The Guardian (July 9)
“The pound has come under fresh selling pressure amid rising fears over the strength of the British economy as no-deal Brexit looms,” tumbling to its lowest sustained level in over two years. “The latest sell-off comes at a time of a stalling UK economy, as the boost from stockpiling before the original Brexit deadline begins to fade” and fears grow that “the economy probably contracted in the three months to June, raising fears of a technical recession.”
Tags: Brexit, Economy, Fears, No-deal, Pound, Pressure, Recession, Sell-off, Stalling, Stockpiling, UK
Reuters (July 8)
“Europe’s data police have new fangs that are turning out to be pretty sharp. British Airways was told on Monday it faced a 183 million pound penalty for the theft of customer information from its website last year.” The record hacking fine did reward BA for coming forward and owning up to the breech. Under the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) the penalty could have been up to “4% of global revenue. Yet the fine announced by the ICO amounts to 1.5% of British Airways’ 2017 sales.”
Tags: BA, Customer information, Data, EU, GDPR, Hacking fine, Penalty, Record, Revenue, Theft, Website
Barron’s (July 8)
“Worried that the stock market has gotten ahead of itself? You’re not the only one. Morgan Stanley strategist Andrew Sheets doesn’t see much upside in stocks these days, resulting in his decision to cut the firm’s allocation on global equities to underweight from equal-weight.”
Tags: Allocation, Equities, Morgan Stanley, Sheets, Stock market, Strategist, Underweight, Upside
Wall Street Journal (July 7)
“Germany’s economic slowdown, though no doubt bad for Europe in the short term, could be helpful over a longer period by easing a rift between the region’s economically stronger north and weaker south over pro-growth policies.”
The Economist (July 6)
A profound “energy transition is under way: from fossil fuels to clean energy. Of all the oil majors, Shell’s attempts to navigate it…are the most intriguing.” With a $52 billion acquisition of BG Group, Shell became “the biggest listed gas producer” while its oil reserves have dropped “lower than those of its Western peers…. Shell is bolder than its rivals in forecasting huge global demand for clean power over the next 30 years. And it is the only firm to link its executive’s pay to progress in reducing emissions across its operations.”
Tags: BG Group, Clean energy, Clean power, Energy, Executive pay, Fossil fuels, Gas, Oil majors, Reserves, Shell, Transition
Financial Times (July 6)
“There is bad news and good news for emerging market investors this year. The bad is that EM growth is tanking; the good is that there is money to be made while it tanks.”
Bloomberg (July 5)
“If Masayoshi Son won’t invest in Japan, why should you? His $100 billion Vision Fund is noticeably absent on its home turf. That speaks volumes about the health of the country’s startup scene.” Although “Shinzo Abe’s government aims to produce 20 unicorns by 2023. The chances of pulling that off are sobering.” Japan currently only has two “while the U.S. has 179 unicorns, China 93, and India 18.”
Tags: Abe, China, Government, Invest, Japan, Son, Startups, U.S., Unicorns, Vision Fund
Washington Post (July 4)
Trump’s Fourth of July pageantry was “outrageous, of course, but not surprising. It was clear from the beginning that Independence Day meant nothing more to Trump than an opportunity to choreograph a made-for-television reelection event and give himself an obscenely expensive ego massage.” Ironically, however, “he ended up looking small” by trying “to make Independence Day all about him.”
LA Times (July 3)
“The Trump administration is absolutely bonkers—which comes as a surprise to no one at this point, but it’s remarkable how many different ways it manifests itself.” His administration is one growing knot of contradictions. “Time and truth are fluid when you’re the mayor of ‘crazy town.’” The only thing we know is that “nothing the president says can be believed, and no threatened or promised action can be trusted until, in fact, it has happened.”
Tags: Administration, Believed, Bonkers, Contradictions, Crazy town, Fluid, Promised, Threatened, Time, Trump, Trusted, Truth
